ZÜRICH (12-Aug) — Europe’s top two middle distance runners this season, Sweden’s Abeba Aregawi and the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan, easily won their individual heats in the first round of the women’s 1500m. Aregawi beat back a nominal challenge from Serbia’s Amela Terzic, to win the first heat in a pedestrian 4:11.64 to Terzic’s 4:11.75.

“The race was nice, I hope to win the final and I don’t mind about the time,” Aregawi told European Athletics interviewers. “It will be a good battle with Hassan.”

Hassan won the second heat comfortably in 4:09.55, helped along by the decent pace set by Poland’s Renata Plis, who finished second (4:10.33). Like Aregawi, Hassan formerly competed for Ethiopia.

“It’s very nice,” Hassan told Race Results Weekly in English while a Dutch federation official sought to hurry her through the mixed zone. “I feel confident going into the final.”

Also advancing (with medal hopes) were Norway’s Ingvill Måkestad Bovim, Britain’s Hannah England and Laura Weightman, and Russia’s Svetlana Karamasheva. Måkestad Bovim, who is making a comeback from both maternity leave and an injury, looked strong in the final sprint to take fourth in the first heat.

“It felt like I was running a 3-K in the beginning,” Måkestad Bovim said of the slow early pace. “But I was strong in the finish.”

Not advancing was Britain’s Laura Muir. The runner-up at the British Championships this year, who later ran a sizzling 4:00.07 in Paris, got her feet tangled with the Netherlands’ Maureen Koster at the bell, nearly falling. She finished sixth in the first heat in 4:14.69.

“I’m disappointed, especially because I’m ranked #3,” the soft-spoken Muir told reporters. She continued: “I almost fell a couple of times as I was trying to get past people.”

Results

1500 m

Heats

12 August

Heat 1

1

Abeba Aregawi

SWE

5 Jul 90

4:11.64

Q

2

Amela Terzić

SRB

2 Jan 93

4:11.75

Q

3

Svetlana Karamasheva

RUS

24 May 88

4:12.94

Q

4

Ingvill Måkestad Bovim

NOR

7 Aug 81

4:13.02

Q

5

Anna Mishchenko

UKR

25 Aug 83

4:14.24

6

Laura Muir

GBR

9 May 93

4:14.69

7

Maureen Koster

NED

3 Jul 92

4:15.11

8

Sonja Roman

SLO

11 Mar 79

4:16.38

9

Esma Aydemir

TUR

1 Jan 92

4:16.90

SB

10

Margherita Magnani

ITA

26 Feb 87

4:17.19

11

Agata Strausa

LAT

2 Dec 89

4:17.61

12

Isabel Macías

ESP

11 Aug 84

4:17.76

Heat 2

1

Sifan Hassan

NED

1 Jan 93

4:09.55

Q

2

Renata Pliś

POL

5 Feb 85

4:10.33

Q

3

Federica Del Buono

ITA

12 Dec 94

4:10.47

Q

4

Laura Weightman

GBR

1 Jul 91

4:10.55

Q

5

Hannah England

GBR

6 Mar 87

4:10.73

q

6

Diana Sujew

GER

2 Nov 90

4:11.27

q

7

Anna Shchagina

RUS

7 Dec 91

4:11.27

q

8

Nataliya Pryshchepa

UKR

11 Sep 94

4:11.42

q

9

Luiza Gega

ALB

5 Nov 88

4:12.25

10

Lucia Klocová

SVK

20 Nov 83

4:14.77

11

Diana Mezuliáníková

CZE

10 Apr 92

4:15.40

12

Gamze Bulut

TUR

3 Aug 92

4:18.28

13

Liina Tšernov

EST

28 Dec 87

4:25.18

# # # # #

The first distance medals of these championships will be handed out tonight when the women’s 10,000m is contested. Medal favorites include Portugal’s Ana Dulce Félix (the defending champion) and Sara Moreira, France’s Sophie Duarte and Clémence Calvin (the 2014 European Cup Champion), Britain’s Jo Pavey (the Commonwealth Games 5000m bronze medalist at 40 years-old), Germany’s Sabrina Mockenhaupt, and Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton. Two-time TCS New York City Marathon champion, Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia, has the fastest personal best in the field, 30:38.78, set in 2006.